Singapore’s Indian-origin former transport minister S Iswaran on Monday, October 7, began his one-year jail term, opting not to appeal his conviction. The former lawmaker also apologised “unreservedly” to the nation.
Iswaran, 62, was handed the jail sentence on Thursday last week for obtaining illegal gifts worth about USD 313,200 over seven years from two businessmen, and for obstruction of justice. Another 30 charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
In a statement on Facebook earlier in the day, the former minister said he “will not be appealing the sentence handed down by the court”.
Iswaran pleaded guilty in September
The veteran politician had pleaded guilty on September 24.
“It was important to me that the public prosecutor amended the charges against me under the Prevention of Corruption Act to those under Section 165 of the Penal Code regarding the acceptance of gifts by public servants. I accept that as a minister what I did was wrong under Section 165. I accept full responsibility for my actions and apologise unreservedly to all Singaporeans,” Iswaran said.
Section 165 relates to a public servant obtaining valuable items from someone who could be connected in proceedings or business linked to him or his official functions.
“My family’s well-being and the emotional toll on my loved ones of a long trial extending well into 2025, and possibly beyond, has also weighed heavily on me. The past 15 months have already been the most difficult. With this decision, I hope we can put the pain and anguish behind us, move forward and rebuild our lives together,” Iswaran said.
The jail sentence meted out to Iswaran was longer than the prosecution had requested. His lead lawyer Davinder Singh had argued for no more than eight weeks’ jail, while Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong pushed for a jail term of six to seven months.
Hearing the case in September, the High Court convicted the 62-year-old on five counts after he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of obtaining gifts as a public servant.
Deputy Attorney-General Tai Wei Shyong had said the prosecution would replace two corruption charges with two lesser charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code.
What are the amended charges?
In the first amended charge under Section 165, the former lawmaker is now charged with obtaining from Ong, “for no consideration”, 10 Green Room tickets (worth SGD 48,150), eight Twenty3 tickets (worth SGD 56,068) and 32 general admission tickets (worth SGD 41,216) for the Singapore F1 Grand Prix in September 2022, CNA reported.
In the second amended charge, also under Section 165, the ex-transport minister is now charged with obtaining from Ong, again “for no consideration”, a private jet flight to Qatar (worth about SGD 10,410), a night’s stay in Four Seasons Doha (worth about SGD 4,737), and a business class flight from Doha to Singapore (worth about SGD 5,700) in December 2022.
The original charges, which were filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, had stated that the former minister had “corruptly” obtained these gifts from Ong in exchange for aiding Ong’s business interests.
(With inputs from PTI.)
